Creating Significant Learning Environments
Focusing on the creation of a significant learning environment guided us with the necessary tools for the next phases of implementing our innovation plan Blended learning: Personalizing the future of education. Developed with a wealth of knowledge, those investing in the journey will be able to shift from their old one size fits all lessons into a space that provides tailored and self-paced opportunities. By allowing us to look beyond the content and tune in on our effective and engaging lessons that allow students choice, take ownership, and voice, with authentic learning opportunities By creating these environments students take ownership and begin to become masters of their personalized content while becoming critical thinkers.
New Culture of Learning
​
“For most of the twentieth century, our educational system has been built on the assumption that teaching is necessary for learning to occur” (Thomas and Brown, 2011).
After reading New Culture of Learning I was reassured that the timing of disrupting our current campus model was right in line with the needs of our students. The learners of tomorrow need the opportunities and learning spaces to flourish in and out of the classroom.
My Learning Philosophy
​
"Knowledge is not about what you know. It's about what you don't know and being prepared to say, I don't know, I am going to find out" (Sir Ken Robinson, 2014). Allowing myself time to reflect on my education, my learning process, how I practice teaching, and my expectations. Understanding how I teach and what I believe stems from past experiences and are contributing factors to shaping my philosophy. As we continue building momentum with our innovation plan I continue to learn how to learn and strive to implement a significant learning environment that provides equitable learning for all and at their pace.
3 Column Table
Fink’s Three Column Model, is effectively integrated into the creation of course development and unit planning. I believe that the 3 column table allowed us to produce experiences that are conducive to learning and target the needs of the learners. Fink’s model, allows us to take our BHAG and construct a blueprint that incorporates all teacher/student interactions, activities, and assessments within a general consensus that leads to our overall objective. Fink’s Three Column model gave us a nice overview of our objective
Understanding by Design
The Understanding by Design (UbD) template “backward” design is effectively integrated into the creation of course development and unit planning. In the UbD approach, we are able to zoom in on a specific unit and aim for explicit understanding. This process of planning allows teachers to expand on the details and differentiate where it is needed. I believe that using both approaches will be beneficial to the success of our learning environments. Fink’s Three Column model will give us a nice overview of our objective and through the implementation of UbD we can thoroughly plan how we will create student-centered opportunities for collaboration, reflection, and assessment.
Growth Mindset
​In developing a growth mindset we need to communicate to all learners that our abilities can grow with the right frame of thought. To accomplish this I had to reflect and embrace the change needed to understand the meaning of investing in a growth mindset, If we expect educators and students to invest we must build trust and embrace our failures as learning opportunities for growth. Educators and students should engage within a community that allows time to reflect and take risks without fear of failure because there is an opportunity to succeed.